All Downhill
by Raiden Miosaki
Summary: Francis and Gilbert are always picking on Antonio for being such a softy about Little Lovino. Always bringing him up in conversation... always putting him first, even first before GIRLS. But deep down, are they really as tough as they seem? Or are they softies at heart like Antonio?


Laughter echoed through the crowded bar.  
"Kesesese~!"  
"Ohonhon~!"

The three friends sat at their normal booth in the middle of the crowd, everyone had gotten so used to those odd laughs, that there was almost no reaction to it anymore when Francis, Gilbert, or Antonio burst out laughing.

The Spanish man looked at his two friends, his face completely straight, obviously irritated with Gilbert and Francis.

"Stop it, both of you!" Antonio pleaded.

"Dude, you're a wimp! Keseses~!" The albino laughed.

"You 'ave gone quite soft, mon ami." Francis added.

"That's French talk for, "You're a wimp, Toni"…oh wait. That was a good one, up top!"  
Gilbert held up his hand, and Francis returned with a highfive.

Antonio was used to his friends constantly teasing him. Ever since he'd become a parent to his little underling, Lovino, he couldn't help but bring him up in conversation.  
And that apparently made him seem soft.

The Spaniard shook his head, and took another swig of his drink, leaning back a bit.

"Amigos…you do not understand what it is like to be a parent."

"Hey! Hey, hey, heyyyy!" Gilbert raised his hand at that statement.

"For your information, I have an awesome little bruder! Well.. he's in the process of being awesome. I'm teaching him about it, someday he'll be _almost _as awesome as me!"

"Oui." Francis took a sip of his drink, crossing his legs.  
"And I 'ave my adorable petit bebe, Matthew."

Antonio had been aware of this, but it never really crossed his mind, somehow that his two friends that constantly made fun of him for being a parent, had little underlings of their own.

"Then why are you constantly bothering me about Lovi?!" Antonio twitched.

"Because you constantly bring him up, moron!" Francis and Gilbert said that together, as if rehearsed.

Antonio blinked, taken back by this.

"So? I wouldn't care if you guys brought up Ludwig or Mattie.."

"But we don't come here to talk about Ludwig or Matthew!" Gilbert informed.

"Oui, zhat is true, mon amour~ we come here to drink, and pick up girls…or boys." Francis chipped in.

"I mean, honestly, bro. When was the last time you brought a girl home?" Gilbert asked, touching Antonio's shoulder.

"I cannot do things like that anymore!" Antonio laughed.  
"Lovi is at home, I can't set that sort of example for him."

Francis and Gilbert just stared.

"Que?!" Antonio burst out, confused by their stares.

"You are bringing him up again, mon ami~" Francis chuckled.

"Que? What do you guys honestly want me to say? "Si! I'll take a girl home, and risk Lovi walking in on us and getting scarred for life" ?"

"Kesesese…dude, why don't you just lock the door? He can't walk in on you if it's locked."

"But…" Antonio looked at his feet.  
"But what?" Gil demanded of him.

"…He might need me or something during the night."

Antonio once again found himself being stared at.  
He felt his friends would never understand his reasons.

Were his friends just good actors, or just really bad parents?

With this, he turned and left the bar, leaving his two best friends behind, to drink on their own. If he was so damn soft, they could get along drinking without him, right?

How could they not get it?  
Sure. Lovino wasn't the perfect angel. As soon as he walked through the door, he got yelled at.  
Lovino wasn't good at cleaning, and on top of that, he made a mess out of everything.

But still… no matter what he did wrong, Antonio couldn't help but smile when he was greeted by the little Italian.  
Even if his greeting was.

"You're a jerk for staying out so late, why do you even bother coming back, you bastard!?"

Antonio knew that somewhere deep in Lovi's heart that when he said that to him, he actually meant "I love you".  
Or it's what Antonio led himself to believe.

….

"And then I turned around to that same guy, looked him dead in the eye and said…not awesome, dude." Gilbert ended the story that he'd waited all day to tell his little brother.

The little blonde haired boy looked at him, his blue eyes interested, but drooping down slowly. He was awfully tired, wasn't he?

"Hey, little dude, you look tired. Kesese~"  
Gilbert lifted Ludwig from his seat at the table, and carried him bridal style.

"It's time for you to get a good night sleep, ja?"  
The little boy nodded, in reply, letting his older brother carry him to bed.

Gilbert honestly felt bad, for picking on Toni, since he was sure that he felt the same thing he did. He'd never felt this sort of love towards anyone else before.  
It was kind of like… maybe at heart they were /all/ soft.

Once you had a younger sibling in your life, or anyone who made Gilbert feel the way he felt about Ludwig, he figured that it all went downhill from there.

…

"Oi..little one?" Francis had stepped back into his house after getting home from hanging out with Antonio and Gilbert that same night.

Matthew was always so quiet, he was always sort of hard to find.

"Mattie..?" He looked around a bit, until he finally found the little child all curled up on the couch, fast asleep, his stuffed bear cuddled up to him.

Francis's heart just melted.  
He wished that he'd been at home to tell the Little One "good night" but he'd chosen the bar over him, yet again.

Deep down, he wished he could be a good parent like Antonio.

Keeping his eyes on Matthew he decided that he was going to try harder from than on to take care of him.

He leaned down and kissed the young nation on the forehead.

"Je'taime, little one.." He whispered to him.  
Afterwards, he picked him up, and laid down on the couch, snuggling him.

…

By this time, Antonio was half asleep, when he heard his door slowly opening, letting a streak of light in from the hall way.

He heard quiet little footsteps, and a moment later, someone climbed into his bed.  
He slowly turn to his side, to find little Romano, all curled up under his blankets.

"Oh, Lovi…" He rubbed his eye, talking in a tired, half-asleep like voice.  
"Is anything wrong..?"

"No, dammit." Lovino snapped, hugging himself.

"Oh Loviiii… you can tell me anything." He informed, and with that, despite Lovino's struggles, Antonio pulled him into a hug.

"Let go of me, you bastard!" He squealed.

Antonio laughed a little, and kissed Lovino on the cheek, before letting him go.

Looking at Lovi, Sweet, childish, stubborn little Lovi…

….

Looking at Matthew, shy, innocent, adorable Matthew…

…

Looking at Ludwig… the most awesome little bruder in the world…

…

He somehow didn't care whether he was labeled a softy, or not.

A/N: So yeah~ guise. I wrote this at 2:30 in the morning, so it may or may not be any good.  
Bear with me, kay? Review, please? I, for the longest time wanted to write a story involving Prussia and Young!Germany, but then it ended up mostly cycling around Spain. Weird how things turn out, right? Anyways~ later!


End file.
